Hanna Eady and Edward Mast’s THE RETURN at Golden Thread Production

Golden Thread Productions, in partnership with Art2Action, Inc., will presents the regional premiere of The Return by Hanna Eady and Edward Mast, directed by Eady, a powerful exploration of the erasure and violence that Palestinian citizens of Israel face on a daily basis. In The Return, two people meet in an auto-body shop in the mid-sized city Herzliya, Israel. They might or might not have known each other in the past. One of them is Palestinian, one of them is Israeli Jewish, and by the end of the play, both of their lives will be changed forever by the realities that surround them. 

The Return plays August 7-24, 2025 at The Garret, on the fifth floor of the A.C.T.'s Toni Rembe Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA). Opening Night is Sunday, August 10, 2025 at 7pm. Tickets (Presale pricing: $20 previews; $30-$130 general admission) are available at goldenthread.org. 

“We’re living through a deeply scary time in the world and in the U.S., and it’s easy to feel pressured into silence in the face of genocide, war, and fascism. But we, at Golden Thread, are committed to responding to the silencing of dissent with brave narratives that uplift unheard stories through powerful art,” said Artistic Director Sahar Assaf. “Our 2024 Season for Palestine was a testament to that, and we included The Return in our 2025 Season of Solidarity to double-down on Golden Thread’s decades-long commitment to uplifting Palestinian artists and narratives.”

Hanna Eady and Edward Mast have been writing plays together since they met in Seattle in 1995, and bring that 30-year working relationship to The Return. Eady grew up as a Palestinian in Northern Israel, and Hanna and Edward's first collaboration was Sahmatah, a play drawn from testimonies by residents of one of the Palestinian villages destroyed during the founding of Israel in 1948. Sahmatah premiered in 1996 in Seattle, and then in Arabic in 1998 on the original site of the village itself inside what is now Israel. Their most recent collaboration The Mulberry Tree recently premiered at La MaMa in New York City.

Eady, who also directs the piece, said: “The price Palestinians are forced to pay for peace is unimaginable, and still, not enough. We inherited the idea of love and the torment from our crucified Grandfather.  Then they came, took away the idea, and left us the torment.”

The intimate production, featuring celebrated Bay Area actors Nick Musleh and Elissa Stebbins, will be staged in “the alley formation” with the audience seated on both sides of the stage. This unique set up makes great use of the flexible Garret space, and highlights the face-off between the two characters as more and more secrets are revealed in shocking ways while inviting the audience to be present for and lean into the story. The creative team for The Return includes Golden Thread favorites: scenic and lighting designer Kate Boyd, Costume Designer Michelle Mulholland, sound designer James Ard, stage manager K’Zhane McGill, and production manager Hector Zavala.

The Pinteresque two-hander was an audience favorite at Golden Thread’s 2024 New Threads Staged Reading Series, leading to a powerful and personal talkback amongst audience members coming from diverse backgrounds. Dialogue has long been an essential element of Golden Thread’s social justice-focused mission, and for The Return, the company is collaborating with three important social justice organizations that are actively advocating for Palestinian liberation and justice: AROC: Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Jewish Voice for Peace - Bay Area, The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), and NorCal Sabeel. These partners will join Golden Thread in presenting public programs that contextualize the play within broader movements for justice. All auxiliary engagement events will be announced in the coming weeks.

Golden Thread would like to acknowledge the support of Art2Action, Inc., The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The Zellerbach Family Foundation.